Communication Articles
Articles may be reprinted in their entirety but must include:
"Used with permission from Regenesis.net"

Consensus is generally understood to mean that all parties agree to a proposal or the proposal fails. But it’s hard enough to get two people to agree much less a group so consensus is rarely sought or considered. The idea behind Formal Consensus is a process which leads a group through "levels" of decision making which is more inclusive, invites creativity and group solution making. For those used to democracy, it may take some practice since a goal of Formal Consensus is to engage the "silent majority" which typically don’t or won’t express an opinion.

Formal Consensus is a process which requires an environment in which all contributions are valued and participation is encouraged. To develop this process requires an organization to define commonly held principles which form the foundation upon which the process is built.

With Formal Consensus, decisions are adopted when all participants consent to the outcome of discussions about a proposal. People who do not agree with a proposal are responsible for expressing their concerns. No decision is adopted until there is resolution of every concern. When concerns remain after discussion, individuals can agree to disagree by acknowledging that they have unresolved concerns, but consent to the proposal anyway and allow it to be adopted. Therefore, reaching consensus does not require that everyone must be in complete agreement.

Proposals ought to be prepared in writing and distributed well in advance of the meeting in which a decision is required. This encourages prior discussion and consideration, helps the presenter anticipate concerns, minimizes surprises, and involves everyone in creating the proposal. If the necessary groundwork has not been done, the wisest choice might be to send the proposal to committee. Proposal writing is difficult to accomplish in a large group. The committee would develop the proposal for consideration at a later time. The presenter reads the written proposal aloud, provides background information, and states clearly its benefits and reasons for adoption, including addressing any existing concerns.

The Formal Consensus process consists of three levels:

Level 1 - Broad Open Discussion. Allows everyone to express their perspective, including concerns, but group time is not spent on resolving problems. The scope is broad, allowing the discussion to consider the philosophical and political implications as well as the general merits and drawbacks and other relevant information.

Level 2 - Identify Concerns. The group focuses its attention on identifying concerns, still not resolving them. Reactive comments, even funny ones, and resolutions, even good ones, can suppress the creative ideas of others. The concerns are identified and publicly listed, which enables everyone to get an overall picture of the concerns. The focus is on identifying the body of concerns and grouping similar ones.

At this level, only concerns are to be expressed, reasonable or unreasonable, well thought out or vague feelings. The facilitator wants to interrupt any comments which attempt to defend the proposal, resolve the concerns, judge the value of the concerns, or in any way deny or dismiss another's feelings of doubt or concern. Sometimes simply allowing a concern to be expressed and written down helps resolve it.

Level 3 - Resolve Concerns & Call for Consensus. The group explores resolutions. The scope is very narrow. The focus of discussion is limited to a single unresolved concern until it is resolved. To encourage the process, the facilitator asks, "Are there any unresolved concerns?" or "Are there any concerns remaining?" If there are, concerns are discussed. If, after a suitable interval of silence, no concerns are raised, the facilitator declares that consensus is reached and the proposal is read for the record. If, at this level, consensus cannot be reached, that too should be announced so other business can be attended to.

It is important to note that the question is not "Is there consensus?" or "Does everyone agree?". These questions do not encourage an environment in which all concerns can be expressed. If some people have a concern, but are shy or intimidated by a strong showing of support for a proposal, the question "Are there any unresolved concerns?" speaks directly to them and provides an opportunity for them to speak.

Formal Consensus provides a creative way to integrate conflicting views. Adopting this approach achieves a much higher degree of "buy in" by those that are subject to the decision. Being heard is the key and this process strives to make sure that all are.

For more on Formal Consensus, see www.consensus.net   BACK

Newsletter Gold
Homeowner association newsletters are a great way to enlighten, inform, remind and encourage. Inviting the membership to HOA events and meetings helps neighbors meet neighbors. Frequent reminders of important rules or architectural policies helps build a friendlier and more harmonious community. Recognizing volunteer efforts encourages others to step up. Newsletters needn’t be long and involved, just relevant. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Here are some tips to make your newsletters pure gold:

Focus on Building Community. Get HOA members to become participants rather than observers. Offer opportunities to do that on committees and social events.

Understand Your Audience. How old are they? What is their financial status? How do they like to spend their time? Find out by getting feedback from your readers with a questionnaire.

Inspire Your Readers. Make sure events, activities and volunteer opportunities are well publicized. Create headlines to grab the reader's attention.

Be Consistent in Layout and Content. If you have a "Rules & Regs Corner" which highlights a particular HOA rule or policy, publish it in every issue. Always include current board and management contact information (mail, email and phone).

Dash the Draft. Write the rough draft as quickly as possible and then go back to polish and flesh out the details.

Archive Your Newsletters and Articles. Many articles bear repeating and as time passes will have new eyes that see them for the first time. Repeat seasonal reminders. Create folders on your computer for the months you publish your newsletter and put article files in the months they fit best. In time, you can build a reservoir of content to draw upon that will make newsletter writing much simpler and quicker.

Lead With Your Strong Suit. Put the most important information up front. Organize the strongest points of an article before you write it.

Keep Articles Short. If an article is long or complicated, readers will move on. If there is simply too much good content to abbreviate, break the article into several articles.

Give Credit & Contact Information. Include the newsletter committee, writer and editor names and contact information.

Be Positive & Uplifting. While criticism has its place, too much of it is a downer and chases most readers away. Strive for the positive. Be upbeat.

Proofread. Editing is a rewording experience. Carefully review your work for grammatical and spelling mistakes or get a detailed oriented person to do it for you. Make sure your facts are straight.

Reprint with Permission. Search the internet for content that would be of interest to your readers. If you find an article that includes author and contact information, be sure to get permission before reprinting and give credit where credit is due.

Have Fun With It. Give them a giggle or two. The internet is full of jokes, puns and cartoons.

Publish Pictures. Folks love to see themselves in the paper. Share event pictures, photos of board members, the manager, committee members and other volunteers.

PDF It. Programs like Adobe Acrobat make it possible to convert word processing and newsletter programs into Portable Document Format (PDF) which can be posted on the HOA website or emailed to those that do email. PDF was designed with HOAs in mind. Using it can save thousands of dollars in printing, supplies and postage each year plus countless processing hours each year required of paper newsletters.

Get Advertisers. If your community is large enough and newsletter regular, it may attract advertisers like real estate agents, insurance agents, painters and remodelers and help pay for itself.

Newsletters are a wonderful way to bind your community together in a custom way. Keep your homeowner association in the know with timely and relevant newsletters at least four times a year. Build community through communication.  BACK

Email WMDs
In the age of instant communication, email often plays an indispensable role in homeowner associations (HOA) operations. Boards, managers, homeowners, attorneys and contractors routinely use email properly and efficiently. Under most circumstances, email is a boon. However, email has some major pitfalls when misused. Here is a list of tips that will keep email an effective communication tool instead of a weapon of mass destruction:

Never assume that only your intended recipient will read your email. Emails can easily be forwarded to others, intentionally or unintentionally. Emails can be intercepted, deleted or easily modified and forwarded. Before sending an email, ask yourself if you would die of embarrassment if the wrong eyes read it. If the answer is yes, don’t send it.

Email is not a conversation. An email, while a great form of communication, still amounts to a monologue not a dialogue. Email lacks the dynamics of face to face which includes nuances like sight, sound, tone and body language. Writing effectively is an art form that few master while most communicate pretty well in person.

Forever is a long time. Emails can be archived for years and may later be retrieved, especially in the context of litigation. Your off hand email remarks may incriminate you years later.

Avoid email for complex issues. Lengthy emails often get misinterpreted and when multiple recipients are weighing in, someone is not going to get the whole message. Save complex topics for face to face meetings where everyone is there to hear the same thing at the same time.

Flame off. Avoid the temptation to send flaming emails, even when the recipient deserves it. Angry emails seldom change hearts and minds and often burn bridges.

Safeguard privileged information. In a genuine effort to keep the lines communication open with members, a well-meaning board member may share an email to a non-board member containing advice from legal counsel. This practice, even with good intentions, could effectively waive the attorney-client privilege.

Email, like weapons, can be used for good and evil. WMDs have a way of doing substantial and lasting damage. Before you fire off an email, make sure you’re pointing at the right person and the email is properly loaded.

Excerpts from an article at www.associationtimes.com   BACK

Consistency Principle
If I say I am a nice person and then act unpleasantly towards others, then I am breaking the law of consistency. The effect is even more powerful when I think about myself to the point where I will change my rationalization of the situation or even my self-perception so everything lines up and makes sense again (at least to me).

When words and actions disagree, others will assume that a person's intentions are more closely aligned with what they do rather than what they say. When I act inconsistently with my declarations, other people will see me as being untrustworthy and will at best not believe me in future, and at worst will reject me as worthy of their attention. This creates significant external pressures that will cause us to be careful about aligning our words and our actions.

We judge ourselves in the same way that we judge others. In fact, our judgment is more harsh, as we intimately know our intent, beliefs and value behind our thoughts and actions. When the map and the territory differ, we thus need to change something so they line up again.

When our actions differ from our beliefs or values, we need to explain this to ourselves. As we do not really want to change our beliefs or values, our first move is to seek external reasons for the different.

For example, if we have hurt someone, rather than accept ourselves as being unkind, we will rationalize our behavior. Thus, the enemies are de-humanized and we tell ourselves that our victims were asking for the punishments we meted out to them.

Another common rationalization is to claim that we were forced to act as we did. This is one of the uses of having someone else as an authority we can blame.

If there is insufficient evidence to give a rational external explanation, we are forced to change on the inside. We can thus be led to change even deeply held beliefs and values. This is why coercion and many persuasion techniques either fail or fail to make permanent changes to the target person. If you want them to really change, they must do it by themselves.

The effect of inconsistency is to create feelings of tension. This then provides the motivating force that propels people into action. The greater the inconsistency, the greater the tension and the greater the motivation. Words that describe feelings associated with inconsistency include: confusion, uncertainty, dissonance, denial and irritation. On the other hand, consistency feels calm, smooth, right, valid and even.

Get people to speak and act outside their normal belief boundaries, preferably in a public way. Then encourage them to change their beliefs to be consistent with their actions. This is how brainwashing works. When getting them to act, do it such that they break their beliefs a little bit at a time, otherwise they will rationalize their actions, blaming the situation or you.

For more persuasion principles, see www.ChangingMinds.org   BACK